To celebrate Vikings Live, we have replaced our Roman alphabet with the runic alphabet used by the Vikings, the Scandinavian ‘Younger Futhark’. The ‘Younger Futhark’ has only 16 letters, so we have used some of the runic letters more than once or combined two runes for one Roman letter.

Word into Art

This tour brings together the work of contemporary artists from
the Middle East and North Africa. The use of writing - quotations,
words and even single letters - has emerged as a common theme in
this vibrant and original art. Each object presented here is
inscribed in or draws its inspiration from Arabic, the main script
of the region used to write a variety of languages including
Persian.

A Sacred Script looks at artworks which are based
around the holy texts of the Qu'ran and the Bible. Literature
and Art shows how poetry and the rich literary traditions of
the Middle East have inspired artists in different ways. The works
in Deconstructing the Word have been created using single
words or letters. History, Politics and Identity examines
how art has responded to crises and wars that have affected the
Middle East. In the entry for each work, the artist's country of
origin is cited first after their name, and their current place of
residence second.

The tour includes highlights from Word into Art: Artists
of the Modern Middle East, a free exhibition at the
British Museum (Room 35) from 18 May to 3 September 2006. The
exhibition draws mainly on works collected by the British Museum,
with some loaned objects. It includes pieces by about eighty
different artists, some of whom are represented here. This tour
shows how writing, so important as both a method of communication
and an art form in the ancient and Islamic cultures, continues as a
powerful thread running through the art of the region today.

The exhibition was part of Middle East Now, a
season of special events which includes lectures, films, poetry
readings and music. The exhibition and the season were produced in
partnership with Dubai Holding.